The Past is Now Another Land
by WOWZAcoolBEANS
Summary: The story of Jasper during his time in Maria's newborn army and Alice's time in the asylum in alternating chapters. Rated T for some violence and some romance. Chapter 4: Alice moves into the asylum and meets a stranger worker there.
1. The Three Angels

**A/N:** Hello and welcome to WOWZAcoolBEANS's triumphant return back into the world of Twilight fanfiction. And good news, she's not a bad writer now! Well here's a quick summary of the story. It's starts with the night before Jasper becomes a vampire and if I could, I'd like it to extend to when he meets Alice. It'll have a lot to do with Maria and the vampire wars and there will be a one-sided MariaxJasper thing (on Maria's side, of course). There will be minimal human interaction (besides screams of death) outside of the second chapter, just so you know. Um… that's it! Read, review, enjoy. Oh, and one more thing, the dialogue between Jasper, Maria, Nettie and Lucy is my own version; it's not from the book. The lines do somewhat resemble the book's, but I didn't want to plagiarize anything, plus, it's _my_ fanfic, what's the use if you don't actually write it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight or General George Pickett. Twilight and Jasper Whitlock both belong to Stephanie Meyer and General George Pickett, having been a real person, belonged to his mother.

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He could see the girls giggling from the corners of his eyes. He smiled and walked closer to the three females, now bursting out with girlish happiness. They were young, and were overly excited to be at the party in the first place. Jasper tried to think of where he had seen them before, but he wasn't sure until he heard the eldest looking girl let out a howl of laughter. It must have been Captain Conner's daughter; Captain Conner was the only man that Jasper could think of that could produce a child with a more annoying laugh than his own.

"Hello ladies." He said with his small, but noticeable southern drawl. "Is there something that I can do for you all?" The girls' eyes became wide and the giggling stopped. Jasper just continued to smile at the girls, no more than ten years old.

"Hello Mista Whitlock." The youngest one said. "We was just talkin' about how nice a party this is. Right girls?" The two girls both nodded in agreement, both awestruck by Jasper's presence. It wasn't like Jasper wasn't used to this sort of reaction. He was twenty years old and already a Major in the Confederate Army. Though on the behalf of those who put him in that position, they did believe that he was three years older than he actually was. But nonetheless, life could not be any sweeter for the young charismatic honey-blonde man.

"Yes, it is a mighty fine party." Jasper said with a smile. He noticed, like always, that his cheerful mood was beginning to rub off on the three girls. They were no longer shy, but they were smiling as well. "Hey, how about we…" Jasper began, meaning to humor the young girls and ask them for a dance when an arm came across his waist.

"Jasper." Said the shy voice of Annabel Scarlett, the girl that he was currently courting. Jasper looked at her in the beautiful red gown that she was wearing. Her chestnut brown waist length hair was pulled up into a half ponytail and her brown eyes were shining with the light of the ballroom. A brilliant smile came across his face.

"Excuse me ladies, but duty calls." He gave the three girls a wink and in a spontaneous act of happiness nearly dragged Annabel onto the dance floor. They immediately began to waltz. Annabel was laughing and out of breath, but they continued to dance. Jasper had never been happier in his entire life. It seemed as if the universe were conspiring to make his life perfect. When the waltz ended and the musicians took a break Jasper and Annabel sat down at a nearby table.

"You look lovely tonight Ms. Annabel." Jasper said the smile unable and unwilling to leave his features. He would return to the army tomorrow, but tonight was his time to play. This party was scheduled just for the important people in the Confederate Army and he was considered to be one of them; being invited to this party was one of the biggest honors that Jasper Whitlock had ever received.

Annabel giggled in her high-pitched voice that sounded like a piccolo whenever she talked. Soon after meeting Annabel the piccolo had become Jasper's favorite instrument. "Why thank you Jasper. That's so very kind of you." Jasper and Annabel made eye contact for a moment, but she quickly turned away. Jasper grabbed her face and tilted it back up to him. Keeping one hand on her chin as she giggled Jasper reached into his pocket for the ring that was sitting in there. He had been planning this night for a long time and so far it had been going flawlessly. He had wanted to propose to Annabel for a while now, but tonight was the perfect night to do it. Jasper let go of her face and cleared his throat once, a serious look now on his face.

"Miss Annabel, I'm sure you have known of my intentions for awhile now, I sure have known them and…" As Jasper reached for her delicate and pale hand a cannon shot; making the foundation of the building shake. There were a few scared screams from the younger patrons of the ball, but Jasper stood up straight waiting for orders from his superiors.

"Whitlock!" General Pickett said as he rushed over to Jasper. "Get the civilians out of the city; we're being attacked." The General ran off and Jasper turned to Annabel, who now had a scared look on her face.

"Come back safely." She said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Listen to my instructions," Jasper said seriously as her face turned from worry to seriousness. "Get your family into my spare carriage and get out of the city as quickly as possible. Don't stop for anything. Try to get to my family's farm in the east; you should be safe there. Stay safe…" Jasper grabbed her hand and placed the ring inside of it, closing her fingers around it delicately. "This is for when I return." He said. Annabel gave him one last look but he had to wrench his eyes away. This was the job that he had signed up for and these were the sacrifices that he had to make.

He ran out of the ballroom and mounted his horse. He knew what to do, he had been through this routine many times before. It was a hard job, harder than being on the front lines. This was the job where he had to watch people leave their homes, their loved ones, everything they had ever known. Some of them would never return, others would return only to find everything that they had loved in ruins. It was sad, one of the worst jobs that Jasper could ever think of, but at least he knew that at the end of the day, he had saved many lives.

It was grueling work; Jasper could barely leave the saddle of his horse for more than five minutes. There came a point at which Jasper thought that if he rode around any longer his private parts might just fall off. _That would make for an interesting wedding night._ Jasper thought as he led the pack of refugees to Houston. He wanted to stop thinking about Annabel, but he was finding it difficult not too. Between the hunger and fatigue that came with being in the saddle for the past day and a half, it was hard not to think of the beautiful girl that he wanted to return home to.

He rode until the people were all safely in Houston, then got a new horse and began to ride back to Galveston. There would be other important jobs for him there and he could not risk his career by being called the coward who stayed in Houston. He rode until he was almost at Galveston, but then he stopped.

A mile out of the city Jasper saw the three most beautiful women he had ever seen. Two of them were tall and elegant with blonde hair that shimmered in the moonlight, but it was the shorter one that really caught Jasper's attention. She couldn't be more than a child, but she seemed to be leading the other two women. She had the features of a Mexican, but her skin was pale and porcelain in the moonlight. Jasper found no way to describe it. It was the same with the other two, however. They all appeared to be… glowing. Jasper knew that was crazy and that people didn't glow. He thought it was just a trick of the moonlight. There was nothing unusual about the moon playing tricks with someone's eyes.

The three women seemed to be traveling without a man and they were wearing old, battered clothing. The immediate thought that came to Jasper's mind was that the three of them were part of his group but were somehow left behind. But he quickly erased that thought. If he had been traveling with them he would have surely remembered those faces. They were just so… beautiful.

"Can I help you all with something?" Jasper asked to be polite. He saw the three women's eyes upon him and was suddenly nervous. The tallest, a blonde one looked at him approvingly as he dismounted. This made him very uncomfortable, and at eye-level, the three were even more intimidating. The one of middle height came up to Jasper and sniffed him. He was confused, but said nothing.

"Wonderful." She said with a dreamy look in her eye. The small brunette one, however, did not like the words that came out of her mouth.

"Careful Nettie." She said, making Jasper's idea that she was their leader clear. Nettie scowled and looked away from the brunette. "He's good. Young and strong. And…" she looked closer at Jasper's uniform for a moment. "And he's an officer." He tried to speak, but he could only stuttered. But none of the girls seemed to notice; they were hooked on the Mexican girl's words. "And there's something else. He's… compelling."

"Yes, yes." Nettie said as she came closer to Jasper again. He was reminded of a bird that was hovering over a tree while him and Annabel were once having a picnic. It had stared at them the entire time and as soon as Annabel had dropped something it swooped down and ate it before Annabel could even scream.

"Nettie," The brunette said with a slight authority, though it was hard to tell because of her soft voice. "I think I'd like to keep this one." Nettie frowned and looked annoyed. The other blonde spoke instead.

"Go ahead Maria, if you want him so bad. I daresay I kill them more than I keep them." The girl had a slight British accent and seemed somewhat sophisticated and somewhat bored. Jasper was utterly confused, but he understood that he was in some sort of danger, but he could not move. He was still transfixed on the faces that resembled those that he had seen in artist's depictions of the angels in heaven. He thought that they were too beautiful to harm him.

"Yes, I'll do it." She said with a smile. "He's a good one… but take Nettie away Lucy. I'm going to need to focus."

"Fine… we'll hunt." Lucy said as she grabbed Nettie's hand. The two of them ran away gracefully, but more quickly than Jasper had ever seen anyone run before. He thought it was strange how anyone; especially a woman; could be that fast. As a boy Jasper was taught that woman were delicate and should never be feared or teased, only helped. He refused to believe that any woman could be capable of hurting someone like him.

Now that Maria and Jasper were alone Jasper became terrified. He had never believed in the stories of ghosts or other superstitions. But as Maria stared at him curiously, Jasper was unsure. _Perhaps she is a ghost…_

"Do you have a name major?" She asked Jasper with a childish smile that made him feel uneasy.

"Major Jasper Whitlock." He said adding a "Ma'am." to the end to be polite. It was hard for him to be impolite to a woman, even if she may be a ghost.

"Well Jasper, I dearly hope that you survive this. I have a great feeling about you." She said as she walked closer to him. She looked as if she were trying to kiss him; she tilted her head to one side and went up to Jasper's neck. His mind was screaming at him, telling him to run, telling him to leave, but he was frozen in pain.

There was a bite and then he began to scream.

--

**A/N:** Well, I hope you liked it, God knows I worked hard on it. Review if you want. Give me feedback; feedback is awesome. Don't worry; Annabel doesn't last long. Have a great day. Thanks for reading. Oh, one quick question. When you're reviewing could you answer me this one question? Would you like me to do alternating chapters on the pasts of Alice and Jasper, or would you like me to just do Jasper? I want your input on this. You all, of course, are the ones who will be reading this.


	2. The Final Suitor

**A/N:** Yeah, so I changed the name of the story and I decided to make it alternating chapters between the pasts of Alice and Jasper. I thought that would be more fun for me. And I have to say; I really loved writing this chapter so I hope that you all like it as much as I liked writing it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Twilight or pretend to own Twilight. I only make awkward situations with its characters for fun and entertainment.

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"Mary Alice Brandon!" Margaret Brandon shouted as she waited for her eldest child to appear. And sure enough she did after a moment. Mary Alice was short, shorter than she should be. Her mother sighed. As a child Mary Alice had so much potential to be a beauty, but with her… problems her mother was worried that her daughter may never find a husband.

"Yes mother?" Mary Alice said in her soft, musical voice. Her mother shuddered. She was glad that she had a normal child; there was just something very off putting about Mary Alice. She was pretty, but much shorter than the other girls of her age. The last time she had measured her daughter, two months ago, she was four feet and ten inches; much to short for an eighteen year-old girl. Then there was the problem of her… little problem. Having that kind of baggage is something that husbands don't look for.

"Mary Alice," Margaret said with a sigh seeing her daughter's pale blue eyes on her. "We have a nice man coming over for dinner, one of your father's friends and his grandson. We'd like you to put your best dress on. The boy is about your age and it's about time that _you_ find a husband."

"Yes mother." Mary Alice said politely then walked away. She had been through this before, many times. It had started when she was sixteen; a nice boy, a friend of her father's would come to dinner in order to see Alice. She would smile and talk but towards the end of dinner she'd get a vision. She'd just stop talking and breathing for a minute or two then return to normal. But she could never return to normal quick enough. She would always scare the boy away.

Alice walked up to her dusty bedroom and opened her closet. Towards the back was the dress that her mother wanted her to put on. It was a terrible blue color with ruffles all over it. Alice sighed heavily as she took off her clothes and placed the tacky number on. She longed to be able to live on her own and to wear the dresses that she had seen in magazines and movies. They called them scandalous and something that harlots would wear, but Alice thought that flappers were beautiful.

Alice looked at herself in the large mirror that was attached to her wall and shuddered. The dress was too big; there weren't many dress stores that carried things for eighteen year-olds who were under five feet; and it was hideous. She wanted to take a pair of scissors and chop it up. She was contemplating this when the door opened to her room and her sister walked in.

"Alice!" Cynthia said. "You look beautiful!" Alice smiled at her younger sister. She was beautiful and blonde and at eight was almost as tall as Alice was now. It was strange; both of Alice's parents were tall, and Cynthia was as well, but somehow Alice was extremely short. It had always puzzled Alice.

"Thank you Cindy." Alice said with a caring smile. She cared about her sister a great deal and was glad that she was there right now.

"Do you have another dinner party tonight sister?" Cynthia asked eagerly. She loved to hear the stories of the beautiful dinner parties that her parents would hold that she was too young to attend. Cynthia had always said that she could not wait until she would be able to have dinner parties with her parents and handsome boys, but Alice knew that she would never need them. Cynthia was beautiful and… normal. She would have no trouble finding a husband like Alice did.

"Yes Cynthia, I do." Suddenly images filled Alice's mind. _Oh-no. I can't let Cynthia see._ She thought as she tried to shake the images out. Since Alice and her parents had learned of her… problem, as they called it, they had tried to hide it from Cynthia, who would be terrified of it. "Get out Cynthia." Alice said quietly, hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to yelling at her sister.

"But Alice!" Cynthia said not moving. The images were coming faster now and Alice had to get Cynthia out of the room.

"GET OUT!" She yelled scaring her sister out of the room. With a semi-relieved sigh Alice lied down on her bed and let the premonition come.

_"Get out!" Margaret hissed._

_Scared faces looking at… her._

_"It's time to leave now…" Her father said as she felt herself being dragged._

_A dark, dark room._

_It's cold… so cold…_

_"Have this blanket…" A pair of red eyes…_

Alice 'woke-up' from her vision and shot up. It had been a long one and she was breathing heavily; there were tears in her eyes. Like always, she had no idea what was in the vision, but she realized that this one wasn't a good one.

Usually Alice's visions were cryptic. A flash of light, a few words, a laugh, a scream, someone crying. It was always hard to tell what was going on in them. She rarely saw things as a fluid moment in time. There had only been two times that that had happened. First she saw the birth of her sister two days before her mother had discovered that she was pregnant and a few years later she had seen a strange place that she had never seen before and a conversation with a man in an apron there. It had just been pleasant small talk, but it seemed like she had been waiting for something. But Alice didn't know what; it hadn't happened yet.

"Mary Alice!" Alice could hear her mother call from downstairs. "We have company!" Alice wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to fill her lungs with oxygen. She prayed that this premonition would mean that she wouldn't get one at dinner.

Alice bravely walked downstairs and plastered a smile on her face. She knew that her parents were trying very hard to find her a suitor and though she didn't want to go through with this archaic ritual, she had to do it for their sake.

"Oh," her mother cooed as her father stood stoically beside her. "Major Rodney, this is my daughter Mary Alice." Alice smiled and curtsied to the older man that her mother had gestured to. He was an older man, older than her father. He had heavy wrinkles and gray hair that have a life of its own. It stood up in strange places and seemed awkwardly plastered down in others.

"Hello sir." She said, trying to be charming.

"Hello Mary Alice." He said stiffly and she noticed for the first time that he was wearing an old Confederate soldier uniform. Alice felt awkward; she knew absolutely nothing about the Civil War.

"And Mary Alice, this is Major Rodney's grandson Robert." Her mother said beaming. Margaret was the best actress that Alice could think of. She curtsied to the younger boy. He had black glasses and dark brown hair. He wore a simple suit; he was the most casually dressed one there. Alice suddenly felt a bit overdressed for the occasion looking at Robert's garb. "Now come, come, come. Let's have some drinks, shall we?"

They all settled down in the parlor and Alice's mother passed out drinks. Without an invitation Major Rodney began to speak.

"That bush outside of your house, it reminds me of this time from the war…" Major Rodney began to talk about a story from when he was in the army. It literally sucked all traces of happiness from the room. Even Margaret was looking bored as he talked.

"He'll never stop now." Alice heard someone whisper in her ear. She turned around and was face-to-face with Robert. "It's all he ever talks about." He said with a smile. Alice smiled back.

"… Stonewall Jackson once said…" Major Rodney droned on.

"Are you really eighteen?" Robert asked Alice quietly; his face was red with embarrassment and he wasn't making eye contact with her. Alice giggled quietly. He was shy.

"Yes I am, I just don't look it." She said happily and he smiled.

"Would you two please pay attention!?" Major Rodney said in a stern voice. Alice and Robert immediately turned forward and looked down. Alice couldn't help but to notice; however; how happy her mother looked. "I was just about to tell your favorite story grandson." He said smugly. Alice let a small giggle out and Robert kicked her foot. Alice could feel that she was already beginning to like Robert.

"It was the battle of Galveston, Texas. I had been serving in Texas under a Major, the youngest in the state. We had been ordered to clear the town of all of the people and take them to Houston to make sure they were safe. It was a long journey and we barely left the saddle. I was the personal pageboy of the Major; I had always been his favorite." Major Rodney said with some smug satisfaction. Alice had never been a violent person and she could never understand how people were so proud when they progressed into high ranks of the army.

"How interesting!" Margaret gushed unconvincingly, but the Major ignored her.

"Yes, we had finally made it to Houston but he just got right back on the saddle and wanted to head back to Galveston. He was one of the finest men I had ever met that Major. He would do anything to help out the cause." The major seemed like someone that Alice would never like. To want to get ahead in war; the business of killing; was just sick. "But he was never heard from again." The Major looked troubled for a moment. "Some said that it was the ghosts of the Union soldiers that he had killed. Others said that he was captured by the Union and tortured for information that he never gave. But no one really knows whatever happened to Major Jasper Whitlock."

Flashes. Pictures. Scenes…

_The red eyes again…_

_"Mary Alice!"_

_"Cynthia!"_

_The dark room…_

_It's so cold… so cold…_

_The Red eyes; the unfriendly red eyes._

_"Edward, she'll be one of us."_

_The red stool…_

_Red eyes, but different red eyes. King red eyes, lost red eyes._

_Major Jasper Whitlock…_

Mary Alice was shaking violently on the ground. Neither Margaret nor her husband knew what to do. This was the worst that it had ever happened; it was getting worse and worse as she aged. Margaret sighed. She watched in silence as the expensive dress was ripped multiple times.

Major Rodney stood far back from her daughter's unconscious body with a look of disgust on his face. His grandson was on his knees next to Mary Alice trying to get her to stop. It took almost all of Margaret's self-control not to tell him to just stop; that it wasn't worth it.

"Is this the damaged goods that you're trying to sell to my grandson?" Major Rodney said with a disgusted face.

"We are not trying to _sell_ her to you!" Margaret said with a scowl. _It's not like we could sell her to anyone. We want to give her away!_ She added silently. She had always cursed God for giving her this burden in her life, but this was just too much. Something had to be done.

After a few minutes Mary Alice woke-up again and a look of shock was on her face.

"Mary Alice, how are you…?" Robert began to ask but Margaret's husband came to his daughter and forced her up onto her feet.

"I've had enough of this." He said simply as he began to drag her away. Margaret was about to say something when she heard the footsteps of her younger daughter on the staircase.

"Alice!" Cynthia cried as she tried to run to her sister, now halfway across the room and struggling to get out of her father's grasp.

"Cynthia!" Alice shouted in return trying desperately to reach her sibling. Margaret grabbed Cynthia and carried her back to her bedroom.

"Let me go father!" Alice screamed looking for help from someone, anyone. She thought that Robert might have helped her, but he was standing perfectly still with his grandfather's hand on his shoulder. She silently cursed the boy. She had thought that perhaps she could like him, but now as she was being dragged away by her dad she saw him and the rest of her family for what they were, cowards.

"Stop struggling Mary Alice, I'm going to take you somewhere safe." Her father told her grimly as he bent to pick her up in his arms.

_Anywhere is better than here. _Alice thought as her father took her out the front door.

--

**A/N:** So there it is! Next chapter will be a Jasper one. I just have to point out that I absolutely adored the part where the Major was talking about Jasper, that made me laugh really hard when I was writing it. And I know Alice doesn't seem quite as bubbly as she does in the books, but that will come with time. She has deep family issues and when she's away from them she'll get better. Another thing, I know that she has more clear visions when she's a vampire, but there's a reason that I made the ones in this more disjointed and strange. When someone becomes a vampire it's supposed to enhance the abilities they had as a human, so I think that Alice's visions would become better when she is a vampire. Now I'll stop rambling in this A/N. Please review ya'll. Reviews make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.


	3. The First Death

**A/N:** Haha. This is a really long chapter; it's good, but it's long. I've really been pushing out chapters on this thing for the past few days, but don't get used to it; soon enough it will take months for me to post a chapter. :P Mad props to wish.. for not one, but _two_ reviews. Thanks a ton!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight, it belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

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The pain was sickening. Tears streamed down Jasper's face. He stopped screaming after a few minutes, his throat was burning. All of him was burning. The pain he was feeling was so strong. It reached every corner of his body, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Nothing was spared from the burning sensation.

As he lied there shaking, burning on the inside he remembered what one of his soldiers had said as he had lied in a bed dying after a battle. "Major Whitlock." He had said gesturing him over. Jasper willingly went over to him; it was part of a leader's job to be there for men who needed to use their final breath for something. "Major Whitlock, it doesn't hurt no more. It's so painless Major. Dyin', it's easy." He had said. A few minutes later he breathed his last breath.

This was not easy. Each moment was another moment of an extreme pain that Jasper had never thought existed. He knew he was dying; there was no other explanation for what was happening, but what he didn't understand is why it was taking so long. He had always been told that death would be quick and painless and that God was merciful, he wouldn't put the people who prayed to him in this sort of pain. But here Jasper was, someone who had been devoted to God since he was a smile child, in this sort of pain. There was something wrong here.

He couldn't move, but he felt his body being moved somewhere. He couldn't hear or speak, but he felt the presence of others. But alas, he had no idea what was going on. After the first few minutes, or hours, or days, he couldn't tell easily, he went into a state of nothingness. All he could feel was the pain that seeped through his body. It wasn't exactly like sleep, but that was the closest thing that Jasper could relate it too. He stayed like this for a long time. To him it seemed like an eternity. Then, slowly, things came back to him.

First the pain became smaller and smaller in the far parts of his body. And as the pain began to just turn into a tingling sensation, he could move them again. This confused him; he should have been dead. Didn't all of the things that he had gone through mean that he was supposed to be dead now? Or was this how you gained entrance to heaven, by going through this you proved yourself worthy? But he couldn't be at the gates of Heaven. Soon after his fingers were able to move he could hear the voices of Maria, Nettie and Lucy.

"It's been three and a half days and he still hasn't opened his eyes." Nettie said with agitation in her voice. "He must be dead." Jasper wanted to agree with her, to tell her that he was, in fact, dead, but he couldn't open his mouth.

"Why don't you check his heartbeat?" Lucy asked with a sarcastic laugh. Jasper didn't understand why this was funny. If he were alive he'd have a heartbeat, if he were dead he wouldn't have one. _Why aren't they checking it?_ He thought to himself as he continued to listen to them speak.

"Girls, girls." Maria said in a soft voice; it was like wind slipping through the branches of a tree. "He's fine. He's just taking a bit longer than the others have. No need to rush him." She continued.

Jasper groaned.

"I guess he's waking up." Nettie said, almost disappointedly.

"Good." Maria said with smug satisfaction.

"He'll be hurting though." Lucy added. Like always, her voice sounded as if the topic were the most boring thing on the planet. "They always hurt at about this time."

Jasper groaned again.

The pain was now centered on his neck and chest. Most of his body was free of the pain but he still felt terrible. The pain radiated through his neck, but he could hear now.

"Try opening your eyes." Maria commanded. Jasper noticed that she was hovering over him. He opened his eyes. The light that was in them shocked him. He shut them tight quickly, but opened them again after a moment to observe his surroundings.

He seemed to be in a house of some sort, though obviously abandoned. As he looked around he noticed that he could see details that he would have never been able to see before; a small fly buzzing at the corner of the room was not only easy to spot, but its buzzing was almost deafening, the fact that a tablecloth that had been carelessly thrown over a table had a million different shades of white in it. Jasper could not understand how this was happening, he had always had decent vision, but it had never been this good before. He shook the thought off and continued to look around. There were cobwebs all around and most of the extravagant furniture that probably was in the room at one time was gone. His eyes focused in on a spider web that had a small black spider on it carefully wrapping its pray in the smooth silk that it created before sinking its teeth into the body of the bug…

A sudden burning sensation that was unlike the pain he had been feeling the past few days suddenly filled his throat. He was thirsty. The first thought in Jasper's mind was _water_, but that was quickly shut away. He wanted something else, but he didn't know what. The want was for a taste that he couldn't even think of what it was.

"Are you thirsty Jasper?" Maria asked him curiously.

"Yes." Jasper said with a dry throat. Maybe Maria could get him some of the drink that he wanted so badly.

"Good." She said with a smile. "Now shut your eyes, the pain should be gone soon enough." Jasper tried to shut his eyes, but he couldn't. Now that he had felt that thirst it would not leave. It was all he could think of. He needed something to drink… he needed it badly. The pain of the dryness of his throat was now a greater pain than of that that filled his body. He could not focus; he needed something to drink.

"He won't sleep now," Lucy said in her bored British accent. "We're going to need to feed him."

"Let him get it himself!" Nettie said annoyed. "If he's hungry then he should get his _own_ food! We're not his mothers!" She added.

"Now Nettie, don't be cruel." Maria interjected and the other two fell silent. "But I will have to agree with you. If Jasper wants something to drink he'll have to go out and find it for himself." Maria kneeled down so her face was at Jasper's eye-level. He turned his head, his neck stinging as he did it, to face Maria. "Are you thirsty?" She asked him. She seemed to be talking to him as if he were a child, not a twenty year-old man.

"Yes." Jasper said softly.

"Do you know what you want to drink?" She asked him with kindness in her voice. Jasper thought about all of the drinks he had ever had; water, whisky, lemonade, wine, beer… none of them sounded appealing.

"No." He said wondering what Maria was getting at. Was there some special substance that only Maria could provide? A potion, or mixture that he had developed a taste for when he had been in pain. A sudden though hit Jasper; _perhaps she's a witch!_ He thought.

"Blood." She said and Jasper stared at her with wide eyes. _Blood?_ He thought to himself with shock. But as the word sunk in he realized that that was exactly what he wanted. His stomach growled and his throat burned. "Human blood." She said with something along the lines of an evil grin. "It's night; you can go hunt now if you'd like. Lucy will go with you and show you what to do. Though, I don't think that you'll need the help. I have a good feeling about you." Jasper paid no attention to the praise; he was confused and he needed answers.

"Am I dead?" He asked Maria seriously.

"No Jasper, you've just been born." She said with a smile.

"What am I?" He asked, realizing that if he wasn't dead, he was surely no longer human.

"You're a vampire Major Whitlock." Lucy said from the corner of the room.

"A _vampire_?" Jasper asked incredulously. He became nervous; they had to be joking. Vampires didn't exist.

"Oh stop with the melodramatics." Nettie said as she walked over to him with a laugh. "Vampires do exist and you're one of them now, get over it." She laughed harder. Jasper looked at her and wished that she were more somber. Suddenly she was.

Painfully Jasper sat up and after a moment, stood up. He noticed that even with the pain that he was still in he stood up more gracefully than he ever had before. Maria smiled eagerly.

"You are a perfect vampire." She said, but frowned. "But what is your power?" She asked as she circled around Jasper. Jasper had no idea what to say, so he said nothing. He just watched her as she made circles around him; like a vulture circling a dead carcass.

"Maybe he doesn't have one." Lucy added from the side. "Maybe he's just another really _caring_ one or whatnot." She added with a laugh. Maria sighed and stopped pacing. She stood in front of him and though she was shorter than him he still found her to be as intimidating as any general he had ever met.

"You'll do well." She said seriously. "Go hunt now." She added as she turned her back to him. "Lucy, you know what to do." Lucy sighed and walked towards Jasper.

"Come on." She said with a gesture to Jasper. "Let's go." Jasper began to follow her, but he stopped when he noticed that without much effort at all he was in front of her. He looked back and the three of them were all sniggering. He didn't understand how he could go that fast.

"Don't worry about it." Maria said. "You'll get used to it soon enough." Jasper made eye contact with Nettie, still laughing and tried to intimidate her into being a bit more somber. She stopped laughing immediately.

Lucy quickly walked up to Jasper. "Let's try this again." She said as she held the door open for him. He had always been a gentleman, so he wasn't very sure what to do when a woman opened the door for him, but he just exited. "Follow me." She said and she sped off like a bullet. It took Jasper a second, but he was able to catch up to her and even get ahead of her. "You're fast." She said with approval.

"I guess so." Jasper said.

"You're not very talkative." She countered with as she sped up. Jasper easily caught up to her and they ran in perfect synchronization. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to Jasper as to how this was happening.

"I guess not." He said with a shrug. Jasper had always been a relatively quiet and reserved person. He had also been relatively shy and that was made even worse by the fact that he wasn't talking to normal humans anymore; he was talking to vampires.

The two ran in silence for a few minutes until Lucy slowed down. Jasper wanted to keep running, but something made him stop. It was a smell; it was unlike anything else he had ever smelled before. He couldn't even describe it. The only thing he could say was that it smelled delicious.

"Here we are." Lucy said with a smug grin. "They shouldn't be that hard. I checked them out earlier. It's a mother and a daughter in a carriage together. They're lost; no one will notice that they're gone. You take the younger one, I'll take the older one." Jasper tried to digest the information, but was having difficulties with it. The smell was just so… distracting. It felt like he had never eaten before and the thought of a meal was sounding particularly good… even if he was to dine on human blood. "Let's go." She said as she quickly, but gracefully ran up to the carriage. Jasper quickly followed her.

Inside the carriage were a mother and daughter; both with hooded cloaks on, both were fast asleep. There was something familiar about them, but Jasper couldn't see their faces well enough to tell where he knew them. Swiftly Lucy went inside of the carriage; Jasper followed; he was intoxicated by the smell of their blood. He could feel it in their veins, throbbing, waiting for him to sink his teeth into… Jasper knocked into the side of the coach causing the older woman to stir.

"Who are you?" The older woman said as she lifted her hood up. Jasper had a quick intake of breath.

He knew this woman.

It was his fault that she was in the carriage.

He had told Annabel to go to his family's house.

They must have gotten lost on their way there.

Lucy looked at Jasper for a moment quizzically. She smiled; she obviously understood the problem here. She seemed to be enjoying herself, actually. It made Jasper want to strangle her. Suddenly, she stopped laughing. It was becoming a common thing Jasper was finding. When he wanted someone to be more serious, they were. _Maybe vampires are just better at reading expressions…_ he thought as he looked at Annabel's mother, still finishing her sentence. He hadn't realized that he could think of so much in such a short time.

"Oh Jasper!" She said with a relieved smile. "We were worried that it was someone dangerous and… Jasper, you look different." She paused for a moment as she thought. "Wait, you disappeared. We had heard a rumor. And who is your friend…" She said as Annabel stirred.

"Jasper?" She whispered. He couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with her, though he now realized a few things. First, he was no longer in love with her. She seemed plain in comparison to the beautiful vampire that now stood next to him. And not only that, but she now seemed dull and boring. He tried to remember what had attracted him to her in the first place, but he could not find anything. The other thing that he noticed was how sweet her blood smelled, how he could feel it running through her veins. How he could hear her heart beat, each motion from it sending blood through her body, making her stronger, making her more and more delicious. "Jasper, I was so worried about you." She said as she stood up. She suddenly tripped over her long cloak and hit her head.

The smell was enough to send him into a frenzy.

The fresh blood was a sweeter smell than anything he had ever smelled before. It smelled… warm somehow. He could not describe it. He just knew that if he did not begin to feed soon, he would soon perish.

"Annabel," He said as he moved closer to her. Tears were streaming down her face, both from the happiness of seeing him and the pain from her new wound. He could sense both somehow. "Annabel, you picked a very bad night to be lost." He said wanting to spear her life for a few more minutes. Despite everything he had loved this girl at one time and was now having second thoughts about killing her, though the blood that had already spilled from her head was driving him insane on the inside. She looked at him with confusion. She obviously had no idea what was going on, what fate had in store for her. "You see Annabel I'm not alive anymore. And right now the blood that you're spilling is too much for me to bear." He turned to Lucy for a moment and took a deep intake of breath. "Go ahead." He said. Lucy smiled.

"Bon apatite." She said as she pinned Annabel's mother to the side of the carriage and bit her neck fiercely.

"I'm sorry." He said as he leaned down towards her neck. He kissed it gently once, trying to find a way to be humane. Perhaps this would have changed his mind, a gentle touch, a fragile kiss… but it didn't. He placed his teeth on the spot and tried to find the courage to bite.

"Jasper, what are you doing?" She asked him scared.

"I'm going to kill you." He said simply as he bit down.

She screamed for a moment, but was soon silenced.

Her blood tasted like nothing that he had ever experienced before. It was sweet, but salty. Spicy, but sour. It was impossible for him to describe. All he knew was that he wanted more. It was all he could think of. He drank quickly; he found that it all came naturally to him. Too naturally. It was a joyful experience for him, but it was also frightening. By the time that he had finished the last drop from Annabel's body he felt like he could lie down and sob.

_What is happening to me?_ He asked himself. But through everything the thing that scared Jasper the most was the fact that he hadn't really questioned anything until this moment.

He had just accepted his fate.

He had just drunk her blood without thinking, without even thinking twice about killing her.

It just felt natural, as if being a vampire was his God-given talent.

"You were born to do this." Lucy said as she grabbed a gold bracelet off of her victim's wrist and tried it on her own. "A complete natural. If only the other newborns took to this as well as you do. That would make my job a lot easier." He ignored her words. He didn't want to hear them. He didn't want to know about how he was born to be a monster.

_It's just a dream_. He thought to himself. _This can't be real… I couldn't have killed Annabel…_ He glanced once at Annabel's unmoving body; her eyes still open with the wetness of her tears still on her cheeks. He gently closed her eyelids.

"Did you know her well?" Lucy asked, seeming to understand Jasper's feelings.

"I had proposed to her the night before you found me." He said as he looked at her left hand. The ring that he had given her was still on it. He gently took her hand and pulled the gold band off. He would throw it into a river or something; he never again wanted to be reminded of this moment.

"It will make you stronger." Lucy said after a moment of silence. Jasper silently got to his feet, still staring at the body of the girl that he had once loved. "Besides, it wouldn't have worked out with you like this. Relationships between humans and vampires don't work out very well; usually it ends up with the human dead. It's better not to prolong it and just get it out of the way." She said trying to cheer the newborn up. Unlike so many of the other ones this one interested her. He had emotion; he seemed to be more attune to emotions than most. _That might be his gift._ She thought smiling. _What an interesting gift to have. _ "Are you still thirsty?" She asked him knowing that he would say yes. All newborns were thirsty. And Maria wanted it that they got as much as they wanted, not necessarily needed. It was good for her plans.

"I don't want to be." He answered her grimly.

"But you are." She said with a smile. She was glad that he was, she did want to spend more time with this newborn.

"Yes I am." He answered dryly. The blood had tasted so good; he couldn't help but to want more.

"Then we'll get you more." Lucy said. "Maria will be pleased with this; you really are a natural." She said encouragingly. "You should have seen Nettie when she started off…" She said as the two of them left the coach.

Jasper looked back one last time at the body of his deceased fiancée. Taking a deep breath he turned back around and started forward.

He would just have to forget about being a human; forget about everything that he had once known. He was a vampire now. And he was a natural at it.

--

**A/N:** I hope you guys all liked this chapter; it was pretty difficult to write but I think that it turned out pretty well. I love Lucy. Ha. Just _had_ to say that. It just works so well! Next chapter Alice goes to the asylum and meets an interesting person who works there. Ooooh! Intrigue! Suspense! Yay! Oh, and if anyone was wondering the song that I named this fic after is from the musical "Aida" and it is about a slave singing to the guy who captured her. It really has nothing to do with this fic (considering that we are not in ancient Egypt), but I think it works well. Please review, I love constructive criticism. Constructive criticism makes me very, very happy. And now I'll stop rambling. Have a great day!


	4. The Dark Cell

**A/N:** Woo hoo! Another chapter! I gotta say though, this isn't my greatest work. This one was pretty hard to write.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight, nor do I pretend to.

--

"Here she is." Her father said when they had gotten to their destination. It was an old, dirty building that Alice had never seen before. But it worried her; on the outside it had said that it was an asylum. Why did her father bring her here?

"Is this your daughter?" The man at the front desk asked Alice's father and he nodded sourly. The man at the desk sighed heavily and shook his head. "Fine, we'll take her for you. I'll bring her back and you leave the money on this table." He said as he grabbed Alice and dragged her away from her father.

"Father!" She yelled loudly, hoping that he would change his mind and decide to not send her to this place, but he already had put the money down and was walking out the door.

"Come on darling, no need to fret. We're your friends here." The man said in a sticky sweet voice that made Alice want to throw-up. She said nothing and allowed herself to be put into a small room. There was an uncomfortable looking wooden chair in the middle of the room. There was a wooden table on one side of the room. It had a white piece of fabric on it. Alice wasn't sure what it was. "Stay here darling. Someone will come soon. Sit down." She did as she was told. This was all happening to fast; Alice couldn't even register what was going on.

After a few minutes the door creaked open. Alice hadn't even noticed that she had been looking down until she looked up at the figure in the door.

The first thing that she noticed about the imposing figure was that he was tall. Not only was he tall, he was a mountain compared to Alice; who hadn't even reached five feet. He had a thick mop of brown hair that was gelled back making his ghostly pale skin and red eyes stand out even more. When Alice first saw the man she gasped. The eyes, those red eyes… she had seen them before. She had seen them earlier that day in her vision.

"Are you Mary Alice Brandon?" He asked in a sweet voice that sounded like honey dripping from a spoon. He looked at her with those red eyes and she found herself unable to speak. It wasn't the first time that one of her visions had come true, but it was still unnerving to see the red eyes that she had seen in her vision in the flesh. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"Yes I am." She said hoping her voice didn't seem as scared as she felt.

"Hello Mary Alice, I am Clark Bane. I work here and will be taking care of you today." He said in a deep vibrating baritone voice. He looked her over once. "First is your hair." He said to himself. Alice wasn't sure what he meant by her hair; what was wrong with it?

"What about my hair?" She asked defiantly. She loved her hair; unlike her parents and sister who had various shades of brown hair, she had pitch-black hair that was currently down to her back. Clark didn't answer her question, but seeing the scissors that were in his hands were answer enough for Alice. She tried to get up, but she found that she couldn't.

She wasn't handcuffed, she wasn't tied to the chair; she was just physically unable to move her legs.

"Stay still." Clark said in a monotone voice. Alice tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn't work either. Clark gently took a lock of Alice's hair into his hands and cut it short; almost right to her head. Tears began to roll down Alice's face as she saw her hair, piece by piece, fall to the ground. After he was done Clark finally spoke again. "I'm sorry I have to do this Mary Alice, but it's my job." When he finished speaking Alice found that she could move again. She looked down at her fallen hair and she swallowed hard. Her hair, her pride and joy, was now gone. Clark looked at her with an almost amused expression. "It will grow back." He said.

"Don't you keep cutting it?" She asked, not really sure of the answer. She knew absolutely nothing about how an asylum was run.

"Only is someone is showing signs of wanting to kill themselves with it or something. If someone's not actually crazy, we usually leave them alone." She said with a smile.

"How do you know that I'm not crazy?" Alice asked.

"I know a lot about you already Mary Alice, and one of the things that I know is that you're not actually crazy." Alice looked at him confused. If she wasn't crazy, then why was he keeping her here? "You get visions of the future, that's what your father told us. You have a gift, but those around you saw it as a curse. Your only true problem was having your visions at inconvenient times. Being special does interrupt social gatherings, but it does not mean that you're crazy." His voice turned bitter towards the end, as if he had been in his shoes before.

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but instead her eyes clouded over with a vision. She leaned back in her chair and let it play out.

_Running…_

_No, sprinting…_

_Sprinting through the forest…_

_Sprinting away from… him…_

_"I have to do this…" He says breathlessly._

_A pain, a bite, a scream._

Alice awoke to find Clark gazing at her from a far corner of the room. He had a certain gleam in his eye; a gleam that Alice found very unfamiliar.

"Does it always happen that slowly?" He asked with intrigue. Alice found no point in lying. She told Clark the truth.

"It depends." She said honestly. "Sometimes it's less than a minute, sometimes it's taken an hour. Sometimes I have the visions and I fall of chairs or pass out, other times I can function as a normal human. It's strange really." As Alice spoke a grin began to form on her face, and by the time she was done she was absolutely beaming. It wasn't an evil or maniacal grin; it was of happiness. She had never told anyone the entire truth about her visions, and getting it out in the open felt very good.

"Really?" Clark asked as he inched closer to Alice. "That's very…"

"Clark! Are you done with the girl yet?" A voice yelled from outside the door. Clark tore his eyes away from Alice and looked towards the door.

"Yes sir, you can take her to her cell now." He said almost… sadly. _How strange_. Alice thought to herself as Clark opened the door. The same man who had taken the money from her father was waiting on the outside of it. Alice got up from her chair and walked towards the door, as she left Clark whispered into her ear. "I will talk to you again soon." Before she could even contemplate what those words implied the man was tugging her down a dark hallway.

"Come on lass, off to your cell." He said as he stopped at the last cell in the dark hallway. Alice peered inside; it was pitch black.

"Is there a light?" She asked timidly as she let herself be lead inside. The man seemed to find her question to be amusing. He handed Alice a shapeless grey dress, a blanket, a pillow and a few other essentials.

"Of course there's no light, lass. That would be too much like giving you people hope." He added with a laugh. He shut the door and Alice was left alone in the dark cell. She could barely see what she was doing as she changed into the grey uniform that was provided for her. She wasn't thrilled with it, but it was better than living in the party dress that she had came there in. She lied her pillow down on the tiny bed that was provided in the cell and wrapped her blanket over her small body.

For the first time Alice was glad that she was so small; the blanket that they had provided could barely fit over her body. She suddenly felt bad for those who were bigger than her.

She had been lying on her bed in the same position for about an hour when her door opened. She looked up and saw someone that she would have never expected standing in the doorway twitching nervously.

Robert Rodney.

"Robert?" She asked nervously. She didn't know what time it was exactly, but she was positive that it was past midnight. He was out very late… and why? Why was he here?

"Hello Mary Alice." He said shyly as he inched into the room. Alice could see that Clark, the man who had cut her hair, shadowed him.

"Robert, what are you doing here?" She asked, very confused.

"I… well…" he began with a stutter. He took a deep breath and pushed his glasses back up onto his nose. "I wanted to see if you were doing okay." He said confidently. Alice smiled; she was glad that she seemed to have at least one friend here.

"I'm fine, a little cold, but fine." She added truthfully. Robert looked at her concerned.

"Have they been mistreating you? Because if they are I…" He said as he trailed off looking at Alice with a worried look. She was laughing, and it was scaring him. _Maybe she really is crazy…_ He thought to himself a bit hesitantly, but shook the thought out of his head. Even if she was, it was his job to make her better. It had been his and his grandfather's faults that she had ended up in here and he wanted to help her get out.

"They're not mistreating me Robert, I think that they mistreat everyone. It's an asylum, not a night at the theater." She said with a broad smile. For the first time Robert noticed that her hair was chopped short. It stood up awkwardly in all directions. It was a strange look, but it also looked strangely well on Mary Alice. Then again, he thought that anything would look strangely well on Mary Alice…

"You only have a few minutes left." The words startled Robert and interrupted him from his thoughts. He looked over to the man who said them. He was an intimidating figure. He was tall and had strange red eyes that Robert couldn't meet with. There was something… inhuman about him. Taking a deep breath Robert stepped forward and sat next to Mary Alice on her bed.

"Mary Alice," he began but was interrupted by the girl on the bed.

"Alice," She said with a smile that made Robert smile back. "I prefer to be called Alice." She said with a more concerned look when he didn't answer her words.

"Okay… Alice." He said with a smile. "I'm going to try to get you out of here… and soon. I have talked with my grandfather and father. They're trying to figure out a way to take you out in a false identity and…" He said before she interrupted again.

"False identity? Why would I need a false one?" She asked with a confused look on her face. All of the color drained from his face and his heart began to race. _She doesn't know…_ He thought to himself with worry. _They didn't tell her…_ He inhaled deeply, something that seemed to happen a lot more around Alice than anyone else he knew, and spoke. He desperately hoped that she wouldn't be too upset.

"Well…" He began trying to figure out how to begin. "According to your family, Mary Alice Brandon is no longer living with us as of this afternoon."

Silence.

Alice said nothing; she did nothing. The only movement in the room was the chests of all three beings going up and down with each breath that they took. Then suddenly, without warning, Alice closed her eyes and leaned back onto the wall that the bed was set against.

"What's happening?!" Robert said as he jumped off of the bed. He quickly went over to Alice's unconscious body and began to shake her. "Alice, are you alright?" He yelled, but then found himself being restrained by the man with the red eyes.

"Don't worry." He said in a monotonous voice. "She's fine, she'll be back soon enough." He said as if she were in a different world. Robert looked up at the man confused, but the man did not elaborate. "Go home. You can come see her again soon, just let her rest now. She's had a long day." More out of fear of the man than taking his actual advice, Robert nodded. He would leave, but he had to do something first.

He walked over to Alice's unconscious body and leaned to her ear. "I'm going to get you out of here Mary Alice. Don't worry; I'm going to make this right." He straightened up, brushed some invisible dirt off of the vest that he was wearing and walked out of the room, stopping only to give Clark a nod on the way out.

_Here lies Mary Alice Brandon, beloved daughter of…_

_"Mommy, where's Alice?"_

_"She's gone."_

_"Is she going to come back?"_

_"Hopefully she won't."_

_"But I want her to Mommy! I want my Alice back!"_

_"I'm sorry, but I won't let her come back."_

"Have this blanket." Clark said when Alice opened her eyes again. "You look cold." Alice took a sharp intake of breath. Closer up Clark's eyes seemed redder than she had thought. They were a somewhat startling thing to wake-up to.

"Thank you." She said as she carefully took the blanket out of his hands, almost expecting to have something inside of the folds of it just waiting to jump out at her. Clark took a few steps back and watched as Alice put the blanket on herself. She was a strange little human. "Where's Robert?" She asked quietly. She seemed disappointed that her human friend had left.

"I told him to leave. It was late and I wasn't sure how long you'd be in that state." Clark said.

"How long was…"

"An hour." Clark said as an answer to her question. Clark struggled for a moment; he didn't want to get into the girl's affairs, but he was curious. Too curious for his own good. He had never met anyone with the ability to see into the future before. Even in his years on the Volturi they never had someone who could read the future well. And though he was no longer in the vampire elite, he was still interested in this human who seemed to have a gift that many vampires lacked. "What did you see?"

"My funeral." She answered simply and without emotion. "My parents were glad to get rid of me… my sister though…" She lowered her voice into a whisper. "My sister was so sad." A tear trickled down the human's face and Clark had the strange urge to reach out and touch her, to give her some hope. But instead he took a step backwards.

"Don't worry. That happens to a lot of people here. Wounds will heal Alice; they always do."

And with that, he walked out of her cell and didn't turn back.

--

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews everyone who reviewed, they're all really great, except… constructive criticism guys! I love getting a review of any kind, and no offense to those who have been reviewing (I love everyone who did review, by the way) but please! "Great job." Doesn't help my writing. If you guys could, give me some advice, tell me where you want the story to go. Give me some ideas! If you read something and said "OMG I have this totally awesome idea that she should use (and which she would totally give me credit for in the author's note)" then go ahead and say it! I am totally open to suggestions, though I might not use some of them. But please, say something more than "Good job." I want to become a better writer and this is how I can become one. Sigh. Next chapter Jasper gets introduced to the idea of the army of newborns and he begins to learn about his power. Have a great day everyone!


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